Grand-piano action.



W. F. COOPER.

GRAND PIANO ACTION.

Arrucmon man 1uLY 1. 191s.

1 ,1 90,862. 4 Patented July 11, 1916.

WILLIAM F. COOPER, OF NORWALK, OHIO.

GRAND-PIANO ACTION.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11, 1916.

Application led J'uly 1, 1915. Serial No. 37,572.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that l, WILLIAM F. COOPER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Norwalk, in the county of Huron and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Grand- Piano Actions, of which the following is a specification,

This invention relates to grand piano actions and has more special reference to a grand piano action peculiarly adapted for use in connection with player grand pianos wherein the piano may be played manually or pneumatically.

One of the principal objects of the present invention isto so improve the general construction of grand piano actions as to greatly reduce the noise made by the movement of and contacts between the various elements and parts of such an action.

Another principal object of the invention is to so improve the construction of player grand piano actions that the player-controlled levers may be conveniently positioned beneath the plane of the keys but have such connection to the wippen that this lever and the wippen operate in unison.

A still further important object of the invention is to improve the action of the repetition mechanism by the use of an improved arrangement of counterbalancing spring, whereby the sluggishness due to the inertia of weighted keys is eliminated.

A fourth object of the invention is to so arrange the position of the jack-regulating button in a grand piano action that the jack will strike the button in such manner as to practically eliminate the noise usual in the devices now in use due to the impact of the jack with the button. Y

A fifth object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement of repetition lever designed to eliminate undue motion of the repetition lever with respect to the wippen and thereby avoid, to as great an extent as possible, all noise incident to the operation of the parts.

With the above and other Objects in view as will hereinafter be apparent, the invention consists in certain novel details of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and set forth in the claims.

In'the accompanying drawings like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views, and Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a grand piano action and associated parts. Fig. 2 is a plan view of part thereof.

ln the drawings, which disclose one embodiment of the invention, a portion of the grand piano is shown which embraces the key frame 10 whereon is mounted the balance rail 11. But one key and action are shown and it will be understood that as many keys and actions may be used in the piano as deemed necessary. Mounted on the key-frame is a. rail 12 which is preferably termed the under-lever rail and to this under-lever rail is pivoted the front end of a lever 13 preferably termed the under-lever.

One of the action frames is shown at 111 and this action frame supports, in any suitable manner7 a. rear action rail 15 and a front action rail 16. To the rear action rail is connected a flange 17 to which the rear end of a wippen 18 is connected, as by the pivot 19. Connecting the wippen 18 and the under-lever 13 is a link 19 which is pivoted to both under-lever and wippen as indicated respectively at 2O and 21. By means of t iis arrangement any movement of either the wippen or under-lever causes movement in unison of the remaining part.

1t is well known that it is common in grand piano actions to counterweight the front ends of the keys in order to secure a sufficiently light touch. This counterweighting, however, has the effect of so increasing the weight of the keys and thereby the inertia as to render the action sluggish. 1n order to overcome this, the key illustrated at 22, is very lightly counterweighted as at 23 putting the key in a balanced condition and to provide for the effective counterweighting of all of the remaining parts of the action it is preferred to employ a spring 24s which extends into a slot 25 formed in the under-lever and is coiled around a pin 26 extending fromside to side of said slot. The rear end of this spring extends beneath a slot 27 formed in the under-lever 13 and is provided with a hook 28 which is connected,

as by a stirrup 29, with the rear action rail 15. The remaining end of this spring eX- tends in the opposite direction as at 30 and is engaged by an adjusting screw 31 so that the tension of the spring 24 may be properly adjusted. By this arrangement the action itself is substantially counterbalanced throughout by the spring 24 so that the Y the most objectionable noises being caused by the jack striking its regulating button. In the present instance there is pivoted to the wippen at its extreme forward end a, jack 32 which has a very short substantially horizontal arm 33. Closely adjacent the free forward end of the wippen 18 is fixed a regulating button rail 34 wherethroughy passes the threaded stem 35 of the jack regulating button 36, the latter lying very close to the pivot 37 of the jack.

In the forms of piano actions now in general use, the repetit-ion lever is generally made of the same length as the wippen, re

sulting in considerable noise in the operation of the parts which is objectionable. To eliminate this objectionable noise, I provide the wippen with a standard 37 which is located substantially at a point two-thirds of the distance from the pivot point of the wippen 18 to the pivot 37 and on this standard is pivoted a repetition lever 38 provided with a regulating button 39 having a threaded stem 40 secured through the rear arm of the repetition lever and normally resting against a stop 41 formed on the standard 37. This repetition lever has a length substantially one-half the length of the wippen 18 and is so pivoted to the standard 37 that two-thirds of its length projects forward of the standard while the remaining third projects rearward of said standard. By this arrangement when the wippen is raised, both ends of the repetition leverkmove upward at much nearer a uniform manner than would be the case were the rear end of such lever located adjacent the pivot 19 of the wippen 18. The button 39 is normally held against its stop 41 by means of a spring 42, the forward arm of which is connected by a cord 43 with the rear arm of the repetition lever, the spring extending into a slot 44 in the wippen and being wound around a pin 45 extending across said slot. The rear end of this spring extends backward into the slot so tha't it may be engaged by the head of a regulating screw 46 whereby its tension may be regulated.

The forward end of the repetition lever 38 is provided with a slot 47 wherethrough the longer arm of the jack 32 projects and this forward end is provided with the felt 48 which, when thel key is struck, engages a regulating screw 49 extending through a flange 50 fixed to the forward action rail 16. To this iiange is pivotally connected the hammer shank 51 which carries the felt roller 52, the latter being engaged by the jack 32 in order to effect operation of the hammer 53 carried by the hammer shank 51. In order to hold the jack normally in position to act against the roller 52 there is provided a spring 54 which is carried by the standard 37 and is connected to the jack 32 by a strand 55. IVhen at rest, the hammer shank 51 is seated on the felt 5G of a rail 57 which is connected by means not deemed necessary here to be shown, to the soft pedal of the piano so that the rail 57 may be raised to shorten the stroke of the hammer 53 as desired. The under-lever 13 is provided with a felted check 58 arranged in the usual manner to be engaged by the tail 59 of the hammer head 53 after the hammer head has been operated to strike the string 60, this being the well known action. In order to limit the movement of the under-lever 13 there is provided a rail 61 which carries the felted limit button 62 engaged by the upper face of the lever 13 when the latter is operated. It will of course be obvious that means must be provided, of some nature, to damp the string G0 when the key is released and to this end there has been indicated in a semi-diagrammatic maiiner a felted member 65 normally resting on the rear end of the levers 13.

In order to provide for the operation of the device by pneumatic means the underlever 13 is provided at itsrear end with a downwardly-extending regulating button 66 arranged to engage one of the arms of a bell crank lever 67, the other arm having suitable connection to a pneumatic 68 such as is commonly employed in player pianos. means of this construction it will be observed that the player mechanism all lies beneath the key frame so that the player mechanism may be withdrawn without disturbing the piano action.

In order to provide means for locking the keys against movement when the action is operated by the player mechanism and yet to allow free operation of the keys when desired, I employ a rail 71 which is connected to the brackets 14 and to this rail is hinged a stop 72 provided with the felt 73. F rom this stop 72 extends a rod 74 which passes through the front board of the piano (not shown)l and terminates in a button 75 so that the stop may be positioned by pulling the rod outward as shown in full lines, thus locking the back ends of the keys from upward movement. lVhen it is desired to use the keys, the button is pushed in and the stop thrown up as indicated in dotted lines, thus permitting free movement of the keys.

In the operation of the device, if the forward end of the key be depressed, the capstan screw 69 which engages the felt 70 of the wippen 18 raises the forward part of the wippen, the latter moving about the pivot 19. This carries the jack upward ,and as the upper end ofv the jack bears against the roller 52, the hammer 53 is forced upward. When the arm 33 of the jack strikes the regulating button 36, the upper end of the jack is thrown forward in the slot 47 and leaves the roller 52, and consequently the hammer 53 is free to drop to a certain extent, the repetition lever preventing a full drop. At the same time, due to the shortness and forward position of the repetition. lever there will be no vibration on this lever on its upward movement and in like manner, when the key is released and the parts dropped back to the position shown, the repetition lever assumes its normal position with practically no noise. Furthermore, if the under-lever 13 is operated through the pneumatic 68' the wippen will be raised as before, owing to its connection with the under-lever by means of the abstract 19 and the same eect will be obtained, it being noted at all times the underlever and all parts except the key are properly counterbalanced by the spring 24, the weights 23 merely serving to hold the back end of the key down when the action is pneumatically operated.

There has thus been provided an improved device of the kind described and for the purposes specified.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is

1. A grand piano having a key and action, the action including an under-lever extending beneath the key, a wippen extending above the key, and a link connecting the under-lever and wippen.

2. A grand piano having a key and action, the action including an under-lever extending beneath the key, an action rail, a wippen having pivotal connection to the action rail and extending over the key, a link connecting the under-lever and wippen, and a counter-balancing spring having connection at one end to the under lever and at the other end to the action rail.

3. A grand piano having a key and action, the action including an under-lever extendabove the key, and a link connecting the.

under-lever and wippen, the under-lever being provided with means at its free end extending down to engage player mechanism.

5. A grand piano having a key and action, the action including an under-lever extending beneath the key, an action rail, a wippen.

having pivotal connection to the action rail and extending over the key, a link connecting the under-lever and wippen, and a counterbalancng spring having connection at one end to the under-lever and at the other end to the action rail, the under-lever being provided with means at its free end extending down to engage player mechanism.

6. A grand piano having a key and action, the action including an under-lever extending beneath the key, an action rail, a wippen havingpivotal connection to the action rail vand extending over the key, a link connecting the under-lever and wippen, a counter-balancing spring carried by the underlever, a flexible connection between one end of the spring and the action rail, and an .adjusting screw screwed into the under lever and bearing against the other end of the spring, the under-lever being provided with means at its free end extending down to engage player mechanism.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM F. COOPER.

Witnesses:

L. SNoox, FRANCES L. Roon.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

